In his first big-league spring training, one year ago, Jackson Merrill spent much of his time while in the clubhouse sitting in front of his locker located near a corner occupied almost exclusively by minor leaguers.

On Tuesday, Merrill arrived in camp and placed his belongings in a new spot. To one side of Merrill’s locker this spring is that of Jake Cronenworth. On the other side is Xander Bogaerts.

It’s as if Merrill is in the big leagues. And that is his intention.

“I feel like I’ve been given a pretty good opportunity to come and compete for a job anywhere on the field,” Merrill said. “… Last (spring) was more like a learning phase for me. I kind of knew I wasn’t gonna break with the team. I was still coming to play as myself and do the best I can. But I feel like this year is very important to me to come and show what I can do and show that I can help the team, be a part of this clubhouse and (play) a productive role in the championship we’re trying to win.”

Whether the Padres’ second-ranked prospect, who spent the final two months of last season at Double-A, can make that a reality hinges in part on his ability to adapt to playing the outfield. A shortstop almost exclusively to this point, Merrill split his work fairly evenly between the infield (also working at second base) and outfield during the offseason.

The move to the grass was one he didn’t expect but that he has, by all accounts, embraced.

“I just see it as an opportunity,” said Merrill, who started five games in left field near the end of last season. “It’s an opportunity to help. We have great guys around the field already. So whatever position needs to be filled … that’s what I want to do. I want to be a productive person on the team. I don’t want to just kind of be the same guy every day. Do something different every day, try to help the team win one way or another.”

Merrill may yet be the Padres’ shortstop of the future, as Bogaerts transitions sooner or later to the right side of the field. Then again, the team plans to try to re-sign Ha-Seong Kim and could make him its permanent shortstop.

Regardless, for 2024 — and especially if he were to blister through spring training and make the opening-day roster — Merrill’s primary role would be as a utility player with a focus on the outfield.

“We’re going to start with a fair amount of outfield work … with a combination of center and the left,” manager Mike Shildt said. “We have some openings, so he’ll get those opportunities.”

Merrill is roundly considered among the top 20 prospects in all of the minor leagues. The Padres consider him an integral part of their extended future, a key cog in a plan to mitigate costs while still contending. But he is on their big-league radar for 2024, whether at the beginning of the season or in the ensuing months, because they have a need in the outfield.

He and fellow prospect Jakob Marsee and a handful of other non-roster invitees are competing with José Azócar and Jurickson Profar for playing time alongside right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr.

Merrill just has to look a few lockers down to his left to see Tatis, who was also a shortstop of some renown before moving to right field last season and winning the Platinum Glove for the National League.

“Knowing that he was a shortstop and he’s just a really good athlete, I can see myself kind of transitioning into the role and kind of doing the same thing that he did in a way,” Merrill said. “But I’m still available at short, still available in the infield too. Not just closing myself off in the outfield.”

Twice the Tatis

Asked Tuesday about his team’s outfield shortfall, Shildt discussed a novel solution.

“We talked in the Dominican (during the winter) that he was gonna play center and right at the same time, and he was OK with that,” Shildt said without a hint of a smile. “And I was just going to petition the league, like, ‘Listen, if we can have him hit second and seventh and have a pinch-runner for him, would you guys be OK if we played with an outfielder short and just have ‘Tati’ play right and center? But he gets to hit twice.’ He was on board with it. It hasn’t gotten much traction.”

Only then did Shildt grin.

“If anyone could do it,” Shildt said, “it would be him.”

Still working

The Padres don’t have a lot of room remaining in their budgeted opening-day payroll.

But they are not finished building their team, notably in the outfield and in the starting rotation.

“We have flexibility,” President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller said Tuesday. “We’ve tried to put a lot of time and effort into adding depth and quality to the roster. There’s gonna be some fun competition to watch here in spring training. It’s been a later-developing market. We’ve had trade conversations that are still ongoing. Usually at this point most teams … have their roster (set). We’ve been pretty active like in terms of still (talking with) some talented free agents that are out there … and there’s some active trade conversations.

“We’re always going to be looking to add and improve. The team that starts right now or starts camp here in the next couple of days, it’s not going to be the team that we finish with. There’ll be a lot of different options. So as we go through the year and, honestly, I think there will be some options as we go through spring training.”

According to multiple people with knowledge of their rough plan for 2024, the Padres will try to keep their payroll between $180 million and $190 million. They needed to cut costs and want to get a reset in regard to the competitive balance tax, which they have surpassed and incurred penalties for the past three years.

That would leave them with slightly more than $20 million to spend, though multiple sources said that doesn’t necessarily mean it will all be committed before the season begins.

“There’ll be some flexibility from a player standpoint and then also from a dollar standpoint,” Preller said. “I think we’re open where we do have the ability to add if we’d like to. I’ve said it before, we’re not just going to add to add. It’s going to be the right player in the right situations. And going into the year with some dollar flexibility, as well, will be attractive. So we’ll weigh that out as we go through the next couple of weeks.”